The Jazz St. Louis Book Club meets the second Monday of each month at 7pm in Nancy’s Jazz Lounge at the Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz, 3536 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63103. Admission is free and open to the public.
Being Prez: The Life and Music of Lester Young
by Dave Gelly
October 13, 2025 • 7:00 pm
Lester Young was one of the great jazz masters, and his impact on the course of the art form was profound. He fundamentally changed the way the saxophone was played–his long, flowing lines brought new levels of expressiveness and subtlety to the jazz language, setting the standard for all modern players.
Fats Waller
by Maurice Waller & Anthony Calabrese
November 17, 2025 · 7:00 pm
This is the intimate, behind-the-scenes story of Thomas “Fats” Waller’s exuberant life, as told by his son, Maurice Waller. The public knew him as a charming, rascally, and effervescent showman. Friends knew him as a serious piano stylist and composer. Maurice Waller reveals the rarely seen side of Fats as a family man.
African Rhythms
by Randy Weston
December 15, 2025 · 7:00 pm
The pianist, composer, and bandleader Randy Weston is one of the world’s most influential jazz musicians and a remarkable storyteller whose career has spanned five continents and more than six decades.
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of the Cool
by James Kaplan
February 9, 2026 · 7:00 pm
In 1959, America’s great indigenous art form, jazz, reached the height of its power and popularity. James Kaplan’s magnificent 3 Shades of Blue captures how that golden era came to be, and its pinnacle with the recording of Kind of Blue.
Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan
by Elaine M. Hayes
March 9, 2026 · 7:00 pm
Sarah Vaughan, a pivotal figure in the formation of bebop, influenced a broad array of singers who followed in her wake, yet the breadth and depth of her impact—not just as an artist, but also as an African-American woman—remain overlooked.
Father of the Blues
by W. C. Handy
April 13, 2026 · 7:00 pm
W. C. Handy’s blues – “Memphis Blues,” “Beale Street Blues,” “St. Louis Blues” -changed America’s music forever. Handy’s remarkable tale-pervaded with his unique personality and humor-reveals not only the career of the man who brought the blues to the world’s attention, but the whole scope of American music, from the days of the old popular songs of the South, through ragtime to the great era of jazz.
Join our 30th Anniversary Season book club! To Join, call the Jazz St. Louis Box Office at 314.571.6000 or use the newsletter below to sign up for book club.
Each of this season’s six books has been carefully selected by the book club’s facilitator, Dr. Gerald Early, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters, Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies, Director of the Center for Humanities, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Washington University. The recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award and a General Electric Foundation Award, Early is currently Editor of The Common Reader, a journal of Washington University.
While the books can be purchased anywhere, the official retail partner of the book club is Left Bank Books (LBB). The books will be offered at a 20% discount through LBB the month before and the month of the meeting, unless otherwise noted. All books can be purchased at their Central West End Location or on the LBB website.
Jazz St. Louis Book Club is of no cost to you and open to anyone willing to show up, participate, and have a good time! Light refreshments will be provided at the conclusion of each book club meeting. While we encourage everyone to participate each month, there is no requirement that you commit to read each book and attend all the club meetings. Questions or comments? Please email Adaron Jackson at [email protected] or Travis Lewis at [email protected].